Martha Martha!

We don't make much of feminity in our family.  I live in the dog house.  Two boys and a daddy dominate any chance of mommy exerting her fanciness. I do cling to vestiges of glamour--pedicures keep my toes looking nice in sandals, I keep my hair long, and wear pink or skirts at any opportunity.  But the fact is, I'm just playing at girliness.

The other day for example,  I had climbed into the van to make a quick run to Target to exchange the "Optimum Prime"  Transformer action figure that Grandpa bought Joey for his birthday. (Busted after 5 minutes of action.)
I began driving down the street when I noted on my drivers side window a small green gecko lizard, clinging for dear life. 

What would most females do in such a situation?  "Eeek!" in dismay, while stepping on the gas and blowing off the offending reptile? "  Pas moi.

No, this was too good; too many mommy-points to be savored.  Slamming on my breaks, I pulled over and oh so gingerly lowered the car window, taking care not to do it too quickly; and bare handedly nabbed the creature.
A quick one-handed-Y-turn and I peeled into the driveway. Running into the house with glee I couldn't wait to show off my conquest--

"Guys! Guys! I got a lizard!"

"Jack quick! Mom's got a lizard!"

"Cool mom!"

I felt pretty cool.  I passed ownership of the prized pet over to my hubby, and returned to the afternoon hunting and gathering at Target...

The other night we were all sitting out on the back deck having the usual dinner discussion with our 8-year-old about planets and space.  This discussion was related to the names of the planets and what Roman or Greek gods they were named after.  Jack seemed to be well informed:

"Yeah and Venus is the love goddess, because that's a girl thing."

Who decided "love" was a "girl" thing??  I guess I need to read that book about Mars & Venus...

Tonight Joey was running around screeching into Jack's voice-change-amplifier toy.  Laughing hysterically down the hall, he stopped in front of me, giggling with loud distorted reverb--

"Hey mommy! I'm sexy!"

"What?!"

"I'm sexy!"

"Who told you that word?"

"Christopher. Yeah, and mommy, "sexy" is a "girl" word."

"Oh, well, am I sexy?"

"No! you're just mommy!" 

sigh. I guess I'll just go out back and scare up some more lizards.